Green Frog

Rana clamitans melanota

The green frog is an amphibian that is green or brownish in color. Adults look something like a small bullfrog. Green frogs have:

• Numerous brown or grayish spots on the back.
• Two parallel ridges or folds along the back.
• A whitish underside, usually with some dark spotting or mottling.

Some males have a bright yellow throat and large eardrums, called tympana.

Green frogs are medium-sized frogs, growing to about 2 to 3.5 inches.

Where does the green frog live?

Green frogs can live wherever there is shallow fresh water, including creeks, ditches, streams, swamps, wetlands and the edges of lakes and ponds.

What does the green frog eat?

Green frogs use their sticky, projecting tongues to catch and feed on insects.

What does the green frog sound like?

Green frogs have a deep, twangy voice that sounds somewhat like the plucking of a banjo string. They will make either a single note or repeat it three or four times, each note being quieter than the last.

How does the green frog reproduce?

Green frogs breed mostly from May through July, though it is common for their mating period to stretch from early spring to late August.

• Female green frogs lay clutches of about 3,000 eggs in a filmy clump that floats on the water's surface.
• Males actively defend the breeding territory, physically or verbally attacking any intruders.
• After fertilization, green frog larvae take several months to hatch and transform into tadpoles. They may overwinter if their habitat is a permanent body of water, as opposed to a ditch or puddle.
• Green frog tadpoles are usually dark brown or gray with some darker spots. They feed on algae before they develop their sticky tongue. As they morph into adults, tadpoles first develop hind legs, then absorb their tail, then lose their gills and begin to form internal organs.

Other facts about the green frog:

• Green frogs can sometimes be blue in color when they lack the normal amount of yellow pigment in their skin.
• A green frog's throat and sides expand as the frog croaks.